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New funds, old markets

by Sheila Hopkins

With all the uncertainty present in the commercial real estate market, you might think fundraising and capital flows would be moderating. If you thought a little uncertainty could slow this market, however, you would be wrong.

In the first three quarters of 2015, 110 real estate investment funds were launched, according to Institutional Real Estate, Inc.’s FundTracker database. This is about 20 percent more than were launched in the same period of 2014. The total capital being sought by funds that list a maximum fund size is more than $50 billion. Because several funds do not provide a maximum fund size, we know that figure is low.

Most of the new funds are focused on North America (59 funds or 54 percent), as is most of the capital being sought ($23 billion). Europe is the second-most-popular region, accounting for 28 new funds seeking an aggregate total of at least $11.3 billion. Other regions are not nearly as interesting for fund managers, with only 11 funds focu